The HWIBCPii address space, which supports the issuing of BCPii APIs from a z/OS® image, will run on any hardware that supports a level of the z/OS operating system in which BCPii is included. However, there will be some reduced BCPii functionality when a BCPii request targets a system that is not running on a zEnterprise® machine. The BCPii restrictions increase the further downlevel the hardware is from a zEnterprise machine. To run with the fewest functionality restrictions possible, make sure the recommended microcode levels are installed for that SE, HMC and LPAR hardware.

BCPii applications might need to perform hardware or software functions on CPCs other than the CPC on which the application is running. Such requests can be targeted to other System z® hardware at a lower or higher hardware level than the local CPC, provided that these hardware levels are supported to coexist with the local CPC level.

The HWICMD service is only allowed to be targeted to at least a System z9® hardware level running on a particular microcode level. BCPii rejects the targeting of this service to any System z hardware level earlier than System z9. See HWICMD — Issue a BCPii hardware management command for further information.

Consult Table 3 to determine the minimum level of microcode required to run BCPii on a specific LPAR level.

Table 3. Minimum BCPii microcode levels by LPAR level

LPAR level	Minimum microcode level
IBM System z9 Driver 67	MCL 008 in the G40954 (LPAR) EC stream
IBM System z10 Driver 79	MCL 002 in the N24404 (LPAR) EC stream
IBM zEnterprise 196	Any level
IBM zEnterprise EC12	Any level

Each version of hardware has subtle or sometimes significant changes in the way information is displayed and saved in the support element. The examples serve as a guide only to where the actual definitions that need to be modified are located within the support element configuration windows.